Breadcrumb

Anti-Immigrant Movement Pushes State Strategies In 2014

April 1, 2014

While the push for immigration reform at the federal level is currently at a standstill, the immigration debate at the state and local level is in high gear. Continuing the trend of the past few years, lawmakers are introducing large numbers of pro-immigrant legislation in states around the country.

In response, the anti-immigrant movement is implementing a multi-pronged strategy at the state and local level with several key goals in mind. These include attempts to block legislation at the state level granting in-state tuition to qualified students, as well as driver’s licenses and other public benefits to Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients. In June 2012, President Obama issued the DACA executive order, which allows some eli­gi­ble undocumented youth who were not born in the U.S. but who were brought to the country at a young age to apply for tem­po­rary work autho­riza­tion, and calls for ICE agents to refrain from deporting them.

The anti-immigrant movement is also going beyond trying to prevent pro-immigrant legislation. Activists in the movement are attempting to get restrictive laws and policies on the books such as greater voter registration restrictions in the form of voter ID requirements and English-only laws at the state and local level.